Parrots are cool. They are also one hell of a lot of work.

You’ve been asking me how to make a Grain Bake. And I haven’t answered you. Here is why: It’s like asking someone how to put toothpaste onto a toothbrush. It’s easy to do, but it’s difficult to explain. It’s always the easiest things that are the most difficult to write about. Philosophers have gone for years thinking about answers to the simplest questions. And while I am certainly not a philosopher, I do have the entire “Grain Bake” thing down.

Dried raisins, cherries, fresh blueberries and canned pumpkin went into this one.

Why is it hard to explain? Because it’s like answering the questions, “How do you make a casserole?” Well, what kind of casserole do you want to make? See? Not that easy… Better I explain what a Grain Bake is and then try and explain how to make one. A Grain bake is a casserole of sorts. Or, if you are from Minnesota, you would call it Hot Dish. Often brought to Potluck suppers, these dishes were quite popular in the 60’s and became a staple in the “Less work for Mother” movement in food. While not exactly “Haute cuisine” they are pretty tasty. However, I have to add that things got pretty weird once people discovered that adding a can of cream of mushroom soup to an oven-proof bowl full of any assorted conglomeration of stuff could be considered dinner.

Here is the definition:

casserole [ˈkæsəˌrəʊl]n1. (Cookery) a covered dish of earthenware, glass, etc., in which food is cooked and served2. (Cookery) any food cooked and served in such a dish chicken casserolevb(Cookery) to cook or be cooked in a casserole[from French, from Old French casse ladle, pan for dripping, from Old Provençal cassa, from Late Latin cattia dipper, from Greek kuathion, diminutive of kuathos cup]

Essentially, it’s a deep oven-proof well-greased dish you fill about halfway up with a mixture of grains, beans, fruit and other healthy stuff for your flock, cover it over with water, put a lid on it and bake it in the oven at about 350 degrees for about an hour until the water is absorbed. Okay, so what do you put in it? Good question. How about this stuff?

This is what it looks like at the beginning. You’re just putting stuff in there. Now keep adding stuff:

See? More stuff. I think I began with spelt and then threw in a wild rice blend.

Okay, here’s some more stuff going in. I think that’s barley.

Here is where I added coconut and cinnamon. I used to layer it. Now I don’t. Mixing it all together makes the grain bake more even and it seems to cook more evenly as a result. It also obviously yields a more consistent product.

Here I threw in some mung beans. Crappy photo, I know but I was shooting on the fly and just wanted to finish the assembly.

Quinoa is always good. It’s a nice addition. Enough said.

I like to use cinnamon in my grain bakes. I don’t know why; I think it’s because I put oatmeal and grains in it and it just seems to go with it. This is more of a sweet concoction as opposed to savory, although I’m going to try and work on something that isn’t sweet and employs vegetables.

Here I threw some whole wheat pasta shells in there. I don’t use pasta much anymore. I don’t know why exactly. Probably because I’m messing around with trying out other stuff.

Here is where I covered the whole mess with water. I poked around a bit to make sure the water got into every nook and cranny.

Here is Mr. Grain Bake in the oven with the lid off so you can see it. Don’t look at my oven.

Here’s one where I used fresh cut-up apples and fresh cranberries with coconut. By the way, remember to fill the casserole dish only about half way to two thirds of the way up. This stuff swells as it absorbs the water.

Same casserole in the oven with the lid on baking away. Stop staring at my oven.

This one was dried cranberries and walnuts. I think Nan and I ate this one. It was delicious, thanks for asking. And yes the Greys got some too…

This one I did in a lasagna pan. It was drier in texture and had the consistency of a meatloaf. It was okay, just not one of my best efforts. Avert eyes away from my oven.

Hmm. Well, I know it has lentils in it. I think this one was the last one I made before last night’s grain bake. I know the Greys really liked this one. I still have some of this left in the freezer. So there you have it.

That’s how to make a Grain Bake. Let’s see what Kris Porter comes up with when she riffs on this idea! (I know she will!) I hope that clears up any questions you might have about it. If you have any questions let me know. And I’ll answer them if I have an answer them. Oh and by the by, you bag it and store it exactly the same way you store Chop.

Let the good times roll! I think I will now take all of my extra time I saved myself making this Grain Bake and clean my oven. Or not.

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Patricia Sund

Patricia Sund is a Free-Lance Writer residing in Florida with her three African Greys. She has been published in About.com, Bird Talk Magazine, Birds USA, In Your Flock Magazine, Good Bird Magazine as well as numerous websites and newsletters. She is currently doing research for a book titled "Parrot Nation".

49 thoughts on “Grain Bake: So Easy, You’ll Wonder Why You Even Asked”

Oop! You scared me! I had to look but I found it. It’s in the paragraph below the definition of “casserole.” About an hour or until all of the water is absorbed. If all of the water is absorbed and it still looks dry and the grains aren’t fully expanded, add more water and throw it back in the oven for 20 more minutes or so.

Jackie, this was at the beginning of the post:
“Essentially, it’s a deep oven-proof well-greased dish you fill about halfway up with a mixture of grains, beans, fruit and other healthy stuff for your flock, cover it over with water, put a lid on it and bake it in the oven at about 350 degrees for about an hour until the water is absorbed. Okay, so what do you put in it? Good question. How about this stuff?”

Quick Question: (and please forgive me for my “parrot cuisine cooking novice-ness.” I have having an absolute ball cooking for my parrots and want to get it right. I’m sure, as I become more experienced at all this, my cooking and baking confidence will rise (ha) and I won’t need to ask such questions that may seem so obvious to most.

When you are adding the beans, rice, quinoa, and other “dry” ingredients that us humans need to cook before eating (and let’s include sweet potatoes, too), do you cook them before you add them to the pre-baked grain bake, or do you add them dry, and then have them all cook in the oven for an hour or so while they absorb the water? (I’ve not cooked beans before – gasp, I know – and I’m thinking you prepare the beans the same way as you do in your beanie cuisine, allowing them to soak and such, tho maybe you don’t cook them beforehand(?) and instead let the beans cook during the baking process of the grain bake?)

As always, I am grateful for your parrot cuisine inspiration. I have seen others talk about what they’re making for their parrots, tho for some reason, the way you present (write about, and offer videos and pictures for enticement and excitement, yes EXCITEMENT! – and yes, presentation is SOOO important! – your parrot GOT CHOP style has clicked with me. YAY!! : )

Carol, I don’t cook any of the grains, and the lentils can go in right out of the package as well. For the other beans such as garbanzos, pintos, kidney beans etc, please soak those for 6 to 8 hours, drain and rinse and then boil for 15 minutes before adding to the bake. Other than that, everything else can go in without cooking.

I am really excited about the grain bake. I’m thinking that this may simplify my cooking routine for my birds (I hope). Can you use canned beans? I make a boiled/simmered grains for my birds now but they haven’t been eating it with as much gusto so I’m going to try the grain bake and alternate them. Thanks again for the recipe. Jean Feakes

Funny, i just made 2 giant lasagne pans of this, not knowing it was also a “thing”. I posted pics on facebook & called it “chop-inspired bird bread” i call everything that gets baked into a solidishy thing “bird bread”.

I’m going to give this a go, but also not a confident cook (have very limited cooking abilities :P, I’m in NZ, so could you tell me what Lentils are, are they the split peas, green peas, red peas etc (normally dried in a soup mix?) I am sorry for such a stupid question.

Welcome Donna! Glad to see you here! To answer your question, lentils are a quick-cooking bean. Here is more information about them: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=52
They’re very nutritious and are a wonderful addition to a parrot’s diet. They also cook very quickly, about 15 minutes, so they are very easy to work with!

We use a mixture of cinnamon, turmeric and cayenne pepper on all the food at the sanctuary. It helped a lot on some of the older arthritic birds (they either held their wings up more and in the case of one she actually started to move and she climbs again!) At home I often just add a salt-free curry powder.

Okay, I ran with this one and my birdies all want to say thank you very much Patricia. I just used everything i could find in my local grocery store. Three different split peas, lentils you name it, it went in. Only thing I did wrong, I made way too much. I have ten birds, but they are little guys from green cheeks to a pionus, no biggies. I’ve got ten bags in the freezer and four in fridge. Oh well, no worries cause my birds are all eating this like it was the last supper. I only find bits of dry crust in their food crocks. Love this as it really looks like something a bird should be eating. I thank you for the wonderful ideas you come up with that the rest of us benefit from.

Hi Patricia
i couldn’t see what kind of cinnamon you are using. i heard that the one from China- the cassia tree is not healthy for us or for our birds. Only the cinnamon from Ceylon that called ” the true cinnamon tree” is healthy.
i am going to make this dish. it sound terrific. i am sure my Eclectus will love it just like he loves the chop. I am not sure my CAG will touch it. she is sure that everything new is going to kill her…lol

I’ve got one baking in the oven right now.Three actually started as one and grew, so I added raw almonds to one, sweet potatoes to another and covered them all with unsweetened home-made applesauce and cinnamon. Tastes pretty good so far. It’s way too hot for my flock but they”ve got their eyes on me. My double yellow stands behind me like a puppy when I cook waiting for scraps to drop. She’s actually better about getting all the crumbs than our last dog. But she’s an Amazon girl. So I say no more.

I say that your oven is “seasoned” just like my moms cast iron skillet. I will never forget the look on her face when she walked into the kitchen and I (a 12 year old girl) held up her newly scoured, shinny clean, no more black, 30 year old skillet! I didn’t realize until I was a cook in my own kitchen what I had done. I say, love your seasoned oven and don’t worry about it! Keep feeding your babies home made lovin from your seasoned oven!

I’ve not made anything like this for my birds before but I’m definitely going to give it a try. My question is, once you’ve frozen it, how do you then serve it to your birds? Do you defrost it or re-heat it etc?

Thank you so much for this article, Patricia Sund!
I’ve taken it and rolled with it, to the extent that I have premixed bags of basic dry grain bake ingredients that I add to when finding more grains, and then add seasonings and fruits or veggies when it’s time to cook….and, BTW, this works super in my rice cooker!!!
So easy!!!